Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Congratulations to Kyle Carpenter, Courtney Martin Steve and Becky Lloyd, Keith Phillips and Cynthia Bringle on pots in the new CM! It was for Kyle's annual show at MudFire in Atlanta. "Asheville in Atlanta" always a beauty but last year was the best of all time!

A 30 cubic ft. stacking space gas car kiln for $3500 . . this includes the burners, all bricks although some will be in pieces when the arch collapses but many will be fine and all the metal infrastructure. Also a digital pyrometer is included.

The 12 x 24 silicon carbide shelves are separately priced at $600 for the 30. I also have 11x18 silicon carbide shelves at $20 ea.

I have a wedging table which is free for the taking but it's heavy. Also I have 5 gallon buckets of cone 10 glazes which I hate to just dump so they are free. Also a 4 x 8 work table that is available before I cut it up for kindling :)

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Panne all'Olive (Olive Bread)

When I first opened Sullivan Street, with Roman baking in mind, this slightly pungent olive loaf immediately became my signature bread. As a result of the brine the olives release during baking, this recipe calls for no salt.

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, olives, and yeast. Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough, about 30 seconds. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, 12 to 18 hours.

2. When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface with flour. Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Using lightly floured hands or a bowl scraper or spatula, lift the edges of the dough in toward the center. Nudge and tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round.

3. Place a tea towel on your work surface and generously dust it with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Gently place the dough on the towel, seam side down. If the dough is tacky, dust the top lightly with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Fold the ends of the tea towel loosely over the dough to cover it and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 to 2 hours. The dough is ready when it is almost doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.

4. Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 475 degrees F, with a rack in the lower third, and place a covered 4 1/2 - to 5 1/2 -quart heavy pot in the center of the rack.

5. Using pot holders, carefully remove the preheated pot from the oven and uncover it. Unfold the tea towel and quickly but gently invert the dough into the pot, seam side up. (Use cautionóthe pot will be very hot; see photos, page 55.) Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes.

6. Remove the lid and continue baking until the bread is a deep chestnut color but not burnt, 15 to 30 minutes more. Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to gently lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool thoroughly.

NOTE: For this loaf, any pitted olive will yield something worth eating. (You don't want to go to the trouble of pitting them yourself, because it is tedious and the results will not be as neat.) But what I turn to most often are pitted kalamata olives soaked in a pure salt brineónothing else, just salt. A commonly available kalamata that I'm very fond of is made by Divina and can be found at many supermarkets and gourmet stores. You might think that because they're black they will change the color of the bread, but they won't, unless you carelessly dump some of the brine into the dough. Green Sicilian colossals, sometimes called "giant" olives, packed in pure salt brine, are another good option; they're often available at Italian food stores.

Had another great clay club this month at Odyssey Center for Ceramics Arts in Asheville! Great crowd...about 40 or so.

First I want to thank Marian, Jan and Tisha who helped get everything organized, set up and cleaned up.

And then I want to thank all the demonstrators, Sue Grier, Alex Matisse, Micah Cain, Erin Paradis, Bailey Arend, Mellie Lonneman and Gabriel Kline, who all donated their time to give us some really fine demos. It is great to see a bit of how everyone works and to see all the new talent coming up in the ceramic world. I will get some of the videos out asap.

Then I want to thank Emily for not demonstrating! (Emily is the one who rigged the dessert voting to screw me out of my rightful title of "best dessert". She had all her students vote for her lemon bars! )

Just kidding, there were some great desserts and we also had a fantastic cup exchange.

We are looking for topics and venues for next year and will discuss these at the January meeting. (Probably should skip the desserts and go with beer next time!)

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The chef uses Valrhona cocoa powder in her cake, but other Dutch-process cocoa powders work equally well. The filling is made from sweetened condensed milk that is cooked in a water bath in the oven until it caramelizes. While the milk is baking, you can prepare your glaze.
Yield: Makes 12 servings.
Active Time: 1 1/2 hours
Total Time: 4 1/4 hours

Preheat oven to 350°F and oil cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with rounds of parchment or wax paper. Sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk together whole milk, butter, whole egg, yolk, vanilla, and almond extract in another large bowl until just combined. Beat egg mixture into flour mixture with an electric mixer on low speed, then beat on high speed 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and beat in water until just combined (batter will be thin). Divide batter among cake pans (about 1 1/2 cups per pan) and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of pans and rotating them 180 degrees halfway through baking, until a tester comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes total.
Cool layers in pans on racks 15 minutes. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove parchment or wax paper and cool layers completely.

Make filling:
Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.
Spread coconut in a large shallow baking pan and pecans in another. Bake pecans in upper third of oven and coconut in lower third, stirring occasionally, until golden, 12 to 18 minutes. Remove pans from oven.
Increase oven temperature to 425°F.
Pour condensed milk into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate and cover tightly with foil. Bake milk in a water bath in middle of oven 45 minutes. Refill baking pan with water to reach halfway up pie plate and bake milk until thick and brown, about 45 minutes more. Remove pie plate from water bath.
Stir in coconut, pecans, and vanilla and keep warm, covered with foil.

Make glaze while milk is baking:
Melt butter in a 3-quart saucepan. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate and corn syrup, whisking until chocolate is melted. Transfer 1 cup glaze to a bowl, reserving remaining glaze at room temperature in pan. Chill glaze in bowl, stirring occasionally, until thickened and spreadable, about 1 hour.

Assemble cake:
Put 1 cake layer on a rack set over a baking pan (to catch excess glaze). Drop half of coconut filling by spoonfuls evenly over layer and gently spread with a wet spatula. Top with another cake layer and spread with remaining filling in same manner. Top with remaining cake layer and spread chilled glaze evenly over top and side of cake. Heat reserved glaze in pan over low heat, stirring, until glossy and pourable, about 1 minute. Pour glaze evenly over top of cake, making sure it coats sides. Shake rack gently to smooth glaze.
Chill cake until firm, about 1 hour. Transfer cake to a plate.

Cooks' notes:
•Cake keeps, covered and chilled, 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.
•For easier handling when assembling cake, place bottom layer on a cardboard round or the removable bottom of a tart or cake pan.

•Bring the water, milk, butter, sugar and salt to a boil in a saucepan. Remove the pan from the heat and add all of the flour. Beat with a wooden spoon over low heat for about 1 minute until the dough forms a smooth, thick paste. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the eggs, one at a time, making sure you stir each one in well before adding the next.
•Preheat the oven to 375 F. cover a baking sheet with baking parchment. Using a pastry bag fitted with a plain 1/2” tip, pipe 6 small balls (about he size of a walnut) for the tops, and 6 large balls (about 2-2 ½” in diameter) for the “bodies of the religieuses. Discard the remaining dough or pipe and bake more balls to freeze for another use.
•Bake for about 25 -30 minutes (the large ones will take longer), until they are golden brown and crisp.
•Cool completely.

Chocolate Pastry Cream
3 ½ oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 ¼ cups pastry cream (see recipe below)
¼ cup heavy cream
•Stir the chocolate into the warm pastry cream. Let stand until the chocolate melts. Add the heavy cream and whisk until smooth.
•Transfer the pastry cream to a pastry bag fitted with a 3/8 inch tip. Pierce a small hole in the base of each ball, and fill with the cream.

Pastry Cream
Makes about 1 ¼ cups
1 cup milk
¼ cup sugar
½ vanilla bean, split open
2 large egg yolks
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
•Bring the milk, 2 tablespoons of sugar and vanilla bean to a boil in a saucepan.
•Whisk the yolks, flour and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a heatproof bowl until the mixture is pale yellow. Gradually whisk in the hot milk (after removing and scraping the vanilla bean).
•Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally, until the cram is very smooth, about 2 minutes.
•Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter. Use immediately. The recipe can be doubled if needed.

Chocolate Icing
Makes about 1 ½ cups
1 ½ teaspoons powdered gelatin
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon water
1 cup sugar
¾ cup Dutch-processed coca powder
¾ cup heavy cream
•Sprinkle the gelatin over 1 tablespoon of water in a custard cup and set aside.
• Meanwhile, bring the sugar, cocoa, heavy cream and remaining ¼ cup water to a boil in a sauce pan, stirring occasionally.
•Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until slightly evaporated, about 5 minutes.
•Remove from the heat, add the soaked gelatin and stir well to dissolve the gelatin.
•Pour into a bowl and let stand until the icing is tepid but still fluid. The recipe can be doubled, if needed.

To Assemble the Religieuses
(silver drageés, for decoration)
•Warm the icing in the microwave (or a very low oven) until tepid and liquid. Dip the top half of each choux into the icing, turn the right way up and cool slightly.
•Place the small choux (heads) on the larger ones (bodies) and top each with a drageé while the icing is till soft.

Well, I was supposed to do a short demonstration at tonight's Clay Club. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend. My firing had to be pushed back a day. I'm firing today. So, here's a short video I recently made Maybe it'll make up for my lack of attendance tonight.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

We are planning the December Clay Club for Wednesday December 8th, 2010 from 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. at Odyssey Center in Asheville. It should be another great one.

We are planning to have a pot luck with emphasis on dessert. Everyone will vote on the best dessert and the winner will get a prize. (probably something shitty but that is all we can afford in these economic times. Besides potter's know that what really matters is gaining the satisfaction of doing what you love, so share the love, pass the dessert!)

We will also have a voluntary cup/mug/object exchange. So bring an extra mug/cup/ object.

And for the Main Program we will have demonstrators present a 5 minute demo on something they do, for your viewing pleasure. These are going to be 5 minutes max. so we can video them and post them on the blog. (Demonstrators will include: Kyle Carpenter, Sue Grier, Micah Cain, Alex Matisee, Erin Paradis and many more!)

Don't miss this one with some lame ass excuse that you don't have time to visit your clay friends. Get off your ass, make some dessert and get your priorities straight! :)

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Check out this months Ceramics Monthly. Lindsey Elsey has a Comment. (Which is her first of many published articles!) Susie Lindsey has an article. Gay Smith has an article. Emily Reason has an article. And Kenyon Hansen has an article and is on the cover. He worked with Matt and Shoko.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

To those of you wanting to buy chemicals from Norm Schulman, if you could somehow get together and go over to Norm's together, that would help him not make so many trips to his studio. At 50% off, good time to stock up on chemicals. Buy yourself a Christmas present.turner

Friday, November 26, 2010

On November 26th , Crimson Laurel Gallery in Bakersville, North Carolina presents "The Significant Gift...A Group Exhibition of Fine Art Jewelry". Deb Karash, the curator of this exhibit and a nationally recognized jeweler from Marshall, NC has put together an exceptional collection of art jewelry from around the country.

Because we know how much our customers enjoy buying and building collections of high quality studio crafts for themselves we want to make it easy to share that experience during the holidays. With this in mind, Crimson Laurel Gallery has invited Deb Karash to curate an exhibition of studio jewelry. She has chosen some of her favorite jewelers from across the country to exhibit for the first time at Crimson Laurel Gallery. One can look forward to seeing jewelry that is elegant, avant garde, playful, and charming. There will everything from river rocks to diamonds. Each unique gift will arrive beautifully wrapped and will include an artist statement and gift card. Crimson Laurel Gallery will ship each gift to its fortunate recipient in time for Christmas when ordered by December 15. The Significant Gift, a new tradition at Crimson Laurel Gallery.

This exhibition will open on November 26th and remain through the end of the year. Each piece will be available online on November 26th. For more information call 828-688-3599 or online at www.crimsonlaurelgallery.com.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Amongst the treasures in the studio, I've found Iron Chromate, Granular Rutile and Ilmenite. I don't believe I've ever seen a glaze recipe using any of these. Would you use them in a clay body? How? Any ideas for glaze recipes? Toxicity?

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Hey folks! Has anyone out there played around with salt water or soda water washes on pots? Did ya like the results? If so, any tips on application or ratios? I have done some researching on the subject matter, but wanted to see if anyone had any first hand knowledge. Just curious... Thanks!

Someone recently asked me about used pugmills and I can't remember who. My friend John Tilton in Florida has two he wants to sell, a Venco and a Wieland. You can call John at 386-462-3762. I have lots of pots for sale at great prices. tom turner

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

I am running a huge sale until the end of the year, 40% off available pots and free shipping over $200.. Email or call to make an appointment to come by the studio. The electrogama has given me great firings this year. Please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested. Come by for a visit. Thanks Oxypotter, Tom Turner

Monday, November 15, 2010

Bring your morning coffee! Yes, you can shop through my Mug Sale on a cool November morning cozy in the comfort of your own home. If you're a pottery lover like me, you know that you can never have too many handmade mugs. Or, they can be great gifts, too!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

The Haywood Community College Professional Crafts Clay Program is excited to host the November meeting of Clay Club. The college is located in Clyde, which is 23 miles west of Asheville on Interstate 40. The pottery studios are in the lower level of the Creative Arts/Professional Crafts Building, also known as the 700 Building. Visit the following links for driving directions to the campus http://www.haywood.edu/directions and for a map of the campus http://www.haywood.edu/campus_map

Monday, October 18, 2010

Visit http://www.emilyreason.blogspot.com/ my new blog. It’s a potter’s journal where I document with words and pictures life in the studio, thoughts, inspirations, experiments, things I love events and other things I find interesting.

I have 200 pounds of Highwater's Helios porcelain for sale. It's unopened. However beautiful, I simply do not like throwing the stuff and will sell it to you at a discounted price. Email me at carpenterpotttery at bellsouth dot net if you're interested. Thanks, peeps.

And by that I mean Josh Copus's Place! It was just amazing all the work that he and his crew have done. The 4 monster kilns the amazing shed and the entire feel of the place was just very very impressive. I am not sure that he realizes what a impressive place he has built and is continuing to build! Fantastic.

It actually reminded me of something you would see in Korea or Japan at some museum in an archeological dig of the emperors palace!!!

In a few years when he gets some classes going The Copious Maximus will rule the world!!!! Watch out Penland and Arrowmont!!! This guy is the for real!

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About Clay Club

Clay Club meets at artist studios and other locations throughout Western North Carolina, usually on the second Wednesday of the month. All potters and ceramic artists are welcome! Look for details about the meetings here on the blog or contact Amy Waller at amy@amywallerpottery.com for more info.